Chapter 90
Chapter 90
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: Actor and Audience (2)
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He must have pretended to be a cop at some point.
That was probably with Asil as his partner. I felt sorry for Asil, who had to patrol while Jaeyeon acted all fine.
I figured Asil quitting the force had something to do with that guy.
Seeing Jaeyeon didn't piss me off as much as I'd expected. I'd anticipated he'd show up here somehow. If I hadn't been able to confirm his presence, that would've been more unsettling.
Either way, one thing was now guaranteed.
I wouldn't die here.
“Green Dream.”
A pale space where chilly air enveloped my body.
Asil looked up at Jaeyeon, his voice suppressing his rage.
“You the one who supplied it?”
“Ah, our dear Marie?”
A faint smile lingered on Jaeyeon's lips.
The sharp-eyed man narrowed his eyes.
“She's not mine. She's just the desperate flailing of a loser.”
Only I understood what he meant.
Assuming Jaeyeon was telling the truth, the high school girl who'd planted the Green Dream was a lackey of some elder defeated by Colton.
The loser hadn't given up yet.
Even his final scheme had been seen through by Jaeyeon and Colton. Jaeyeon must've found his opponent's struggles amusing. That's why he'd watched the loser's rebellion with delight, playing corrupt cop to make things worse.
All for his own amusement.
Ah... Memories from back then.
Jaeyeon, bound to Colton, would act out like this to relieve stress. His owner would look at him pitifully. When Colton nagged, “Don't do such pointless crap,” Jaeyeon would smash his stuff with a wave of his hand.
Crash! Bang! As the sound of breaking objects filled the air, I'd quietly slip away.
I let out a small sigh.
“You think you can survive the match?”
Ignoring my sigh, Jaeyeon asked Asil.
But before Asil, who was grinding his teeth, could retort, footsteps echoed from the end of the corridor.
Multiple sets of footsteps.
A familiar voice cut through the darkness.
“Cop.”
Mick emerged first.
“Got more Green Dream?”
“Sadly, no.”
Jaeyeon spun around with a grin at Mick.
His polite response, hands behind his back, felt out of character. I'd never seen him use formal speech with anyone but Colton.
But who knew which side was closer to the real him?
“Green Dream's export process is a hassle anyway. That girl who tipped you off probably has extras.”
“She's not here.”
Mick replied, and the three or four mafia trailing him grumbled.
Listening to their complaints, I pieced together the situation.
Sending Badgers into the arena must've been the plan of the defeated elder and the mafia.
The schemer was the former elder ousted by Colton, and the mafia were his first accomplices. The elder hated the Badger command staff for standing by as he died, and the mafia were annoyed by Badgers constantly interfering with their business.
Jaeyeon had slipped in, pretending to be a crooked cop.
Mick sighed dramatically and beckoned with his hand.
“No choice. We'll just pump 'em with more drugs.”
The seniors tensed up.
I pretended not to notice them glaring at the mafia while grinding their teeth. Yelling at them now wouldn't change anything.
Mick took a syringe from his men.
“Rookie. Come here.”
He held the syringe in his right hand and crooked a finger at me.
“Stick your arm out through the bars.”
“Yes, Mommy.”
I replied innocently.
The seniors, about to protest, whipped around to stare at me.
Jaeyeon burst out laughing. I heard Ricardo huff. Asil and Barbie gawked at me with wide eyes like rabbits.
The mafia stared at me with stony expressions.
Only Mick's face remained impassive.
He grabbed my left forearm sticking through the bars and blinked a couple times.
Peering into my eyes, the mafioso let out a long laugh.
“Can't tell good from bad at your age, huh?”
He jabbed the needle into my forearm and pushed in the liquid.
“Rookie Badgers like you never learn. You get drunk on the sudden power.”
“So you keep doping us up like this?”
I smiled sweetly and asked softly.
“'Cause you're scared of me?”
Zzzzt!
Thud!
A heavy impact crashed me to the floor.
Ah... That really hurts.
I curled up from the electric shock rippling through me, letting out a small groan. Mafia laughter rained down, along with panicked voices from Asil and Barbie.
Ricardo's low sigh.
Jaeyeon's snort too.
Mick, who'd yanked me against the bars, stood up quickly. He stayed silent as I panted on the floor.
Then he spoke.
“After intermission, drag these to the arena.”
“Yes!”
The mafia moved.
While his men bustled, Mick didn't. He just loomed over me, head bowed ominously.
The man's shadow draped over me.
“Green Dream not working well makes all this hilarious, doesn't it?”
My attitude had clearly irked him.
Mick's rage-suppressed voice dropped to the floor.
“You think time's on your side, that you'll win eventually. Better recovery than normals, strength intact.”
“Calling me arrogant?”
Panting, I couldn't hold back a chuckle in my retort.
“You, to me?”
“No matter what happens to your seniors, you think you'll make it out alive. That's the delusion letting you act like this.”
The mafioso ignored my words.
Maybe he really didn't hear. With his screw-loose eyes, muttering like that.
“Let's see how long that confidence lasts.”
Mick turned away.
The gloomy mafioso receded. Panting, I listened to the group leaving. They'd swarmed in and now swarmed out.
Even Jaeyeon, who'd been smirking at Mick and me, left.
The military boots midway turned to high heels.
Then, abruptly, the footsteps stopped.
Pale silence.
A chill settled over the cold space. Body-numbing cold.
As the electric aftershocks faded in that icy sensation, the drug took effect.
“Rookie.”
Asil's voice buzzed in my ear.
But I had no energy to answer his worried question.
“You okay?”
Gotta stay away from the seniors.
Overwhelming sensory chaos pinned me down.
Asil shot up, saying something, but I couldn't make out words anymore. The other seniors' voices buzzed too, incomprehensible.
One thing clear: I couldn't control my strength right now.
Scraping together my fading judgment, I rolled across the floor away from them. Once in the prison corner, I curled up tight.
Is this really drugs?
What drug hurts instead of feeling good?
Seniors kept calling, but I couldn't understand. I gave up and held out one palm.
Barely mustering words for the approaching seniors.
“Stay back.”
Ricardo sounds pissed.
Good thing I can't understand.
I gave a faint smile at the frowning seniors.
“I can't understand a word.”
...Did Ricardo just kick the wall?
Scary. Ricardo that mad.
Seeing Barbie and Ricardo jump up, I decided to fake passing out.
Closed my eyes naturally, curled tight in case I flailed and hit them.
If I held out, the effects would wear off.
Just don't accidentally hit a senior...
I struggled to stay conscious. Already cramped, I feared losing it and smacking one. Clenching and unclenching fists against the foul sensation, swiping at air for something to grab, then scraping the floor when nothing.
Scratching the innocent floor kept me from blacking out.
Someone dragged me from the corner to the center.
I blinked away cold sweat on my lashes.
“Make her puke?”
A frightened voice.
Another replied in a low tone.
“Useless... Have to wait for it to wear off...”
“Don't send the rookie to the match.”
A stiff voice.
“We handle this ourselves.”
Handle what?
Dazed, I listened.
I remembered not to pass out no matter what, but little else.
Why am I like this here?
Floor's cold.
Who's talking? Tones don't sound happy...
Ah. Limbs numb.
I twitched, and voices cut off.
A face filled my warped vision.
“Hilde!”
Hm?
“You see me?”
Ah.
I faintly smiled at the blurry figure. Shoulder-length hair, wide eyes peering down—familiar pose.
Some annoying ordeal's over, I guess.
Smiling smaller at the shaking hair.
“Eve.”
The watcher froze.
“You see me. Looks like it's over. Where's Kyle?”
No reply.
The sudden silence felt off; I blinked.
Why no answer? Drifting in haze, I wondered. She's so chatty.
Especially with us—always ranting excitedly post-experiment.
Shaking her unique two-tone hair, blue outside dyed purple inside...
“Who're Eve and Kyle?”
Hm?
...Oh.
Shit.
Reality snapped back.
“Know them? Anyway, she's definitely not right in the head.”
“I'll carry her to the waiting room.”
Asil muttered darkly.
“She can barely walk.”
Gotta keep acting messed up.
Embarrassed for mistaking Barbie, I played blackout drunk till Asil lifted me.
Worried about burdening the silver-haired senior, I tensed—until Ricardo caught on I was lucid. Even then, I kept acting.